Kahramanmaraş' Hapisa

To make sweet fruit sausages, first the grapes are squeezed. The juice is boiled until it gets as dark as tea. Then the wheat starch is added. This mixture is called hapısa. Next walnuts are attached to the sticks and these sticks are coated with hapısa. This process is repeated intermittently. Finally, they are dried under sunlight for two to three days. Sweet fruit sausages are also made with almonds and pistachios. They are made in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, at the end of the summer in every house. - F. Dilek Uyar